College Tips: Asking Your Parents for Financial Help in College

It’s never easy to ask for money from your parents especially while you’re a college student. But if you’re in financial distress as your parents for assistance may be your only option. You may find it uncomfortable and may even feel like a bit of a failure, but asking your parents for assistance is better than losing your College degree because you couldn’t afford to stay there. Here’s some tips on how to ask your parents for financial help in College.

1. Honesty. In whatever aspect of your life whether you’re a student or not, honesty is the most important value you should have. Being honest with them will save you a lot of trouble. Such as if you lie and you say that you needed money to pay for rent but then you go and use the money for something else, what are you going to do when you really do need money for rent in the next few weeks? Be honest in telling them what you’re asking for so that you won’t get into any trouble in the future.

2. Be in their shoes. Try thinking about it from their side of the story then you will be able to better judge how they would react. Will they get worried about you because you are not able to meet your financial obligations, or buy food, etc? Or have you just wasted the money and they may be fuming because you have blown your entire semester’s loan check within the first few weeks of school. Be prepared for where the conversation may go.

3. Let them know if what you ask if a gift or a loan. When asking for money let them know if you are able to pay them back. If you are going to pay them back, let them know how you’ll do this. If you cannot pay it back, then just be honest and let them know from the beginning, so that there is no confusion later.

4. Always be thankful of what they could offer you. If your parents can’t give you cold cash but is offering you another way to solve your problem then always be grateful for their help. They have sacrificed a lot of things just to give you an education. I believe that no parents will leave their children behind most especially when they needed help. They may be doing their best to help you out, so be thankful for that.

5. Avoid that situation happening again. Your parents or guardians will be hesitant to give you money if they think you’re going to be in the same scenario the following month or the following days. Think of ways on how you will be able to avoid that situation again and let them know about your ways. In this way they would be more confident that things like that won’t happen again and that they can trust you. This is also a sign that you are a responsible person.

6. Think of other choices if possible. Your parents may want to give you the money you need but if you think that there are other possible ways then consider these first. You could also ask for help from an on-campus job to an emergency loan from the financial aid office. Your parents will really appreciate that you have searched for other options before asking them for help.

All in all, your parents are there for you no matter what, they want to see you succeed, but don’t abuse the privilege, use good money management strategies from the outset and you will not need to even worry about asking your parents for help.